2 year old just started to stutter or stammer

[BoysRule]

My 2.5 year old has been talking very well for about a year now. He can talk in full sentences and hold a conversation. However, in the past week or two he has started to stammer quite severely - only really on the 'w' sound. He can take around 8 times of saying 'w' before he continues his sentence. This is happening every time he starts a sentence with 'w' and is starting to happen with other sounds too.

Is this just a phase of development? I wouldn't be concerned if he was just learning to talk but he has been able to speak for such a long time it seems odd to suddenly start doing this.

Thanks

Actually this is much more common when a child has established good speech. They progress to using speech for self expression and their minds accelerate ahead of their mouths. This may pass very quickly or may get worse for a time. It is very very rarely a sign that stuttering/stammering will persist into later life and I would not be at all concerned at his age.

as a parent it is best not to interrupt but to wait patiently for the word. If your son is racing then it may be good to slow down your own speech and make sure that you give good "sideways" attention when he is talking to you (by which I mean full attnetion but not the gimlet intense stare that will make him self conscious)

Both my boys went through this stage. Always with question W's - what, where, when, who. It passed. I assumed it was his mind racing ahead thinking about the sentence he was formulating and stalling on the first word as he was working it out. Was noticeably worse when the sentence contained complex structure or rarely used vocabulary.

Yes, as said it's very common and usually resolves itself.

Thank you for the reassurance - yes it tends to be question words and often he talks for the sake of talking rather than having something to say, so I think he is wondering what he can ask!

I'll stick with it and hope it passes.

DS1 suddenly started doing this around 2.3/2.4yr. Lasted a few weeks now he's 2.5yo and speaks beautifully again :)